After having been ignored for a long time by economists, happiness is becoming an object of serious research in 21st century economics. In Section 2 we sketch the present status of happiness economics. In Section 3 we consider the practical applicability of happiness economics, retaining the assumption of ordinal individual utilities. In Section 4 we introduce a cardinal utility concept, which seems to us the natural consequence of the happiness economics methodology. In Section 5 we sketch how this approach can lead to a normative approach to policy problems that is admissible from a positivist point of view. Section 6 concludes.

en_US

dc.language.iso

eng

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dc.publisher

CESifo München

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dc.relation.ispartofseries

CESifo working paper 1912

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dc.subject.jel

B21

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dc.subject.jel

B41

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dc.subject.jel

D63

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dc.subject.jel

I31

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dc.subject.jel

I38

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dc.subject.ddc

330

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dc.subject.stw

Lebenszufriedenheit

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dc.subject.stw

Lebensqualität

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dc.subject.stw

Wirtschaftspolitik

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dc.title

Perspectives from the happiness literature and the role of new instruments for policy analysis